Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Monday pledged to introduce more measures to promote the development of new quality productive forces and help the city achieve high-quality growth.
“Technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driving force. We will continue to use different channels and take a multipronged approach to strengthen Hong Kong’s innovation and technology talent pool,” Lee said during an awards ceremony celebrating the city’s latest innovation achievements, organized by the Innovation and Technology Commission.
READ MORE: Lee: HK to promote new productive forces for high-quality development
The ceremony recognized the scientific research performed, and the honors received, by 10 homegrown scholars and scientists over the past year, as well as the talented individuals from 25 institutions who won various awards for their part in 157 projects.
The award winners represent the different sectors, including government, industry, academia and research, and their works cover fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, medical science, green technology, polymer science, electronics, and construction engineering.
They also include some members of the Hong Kong delegation to the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in April. The 700 Hong Kong participants — including police representatives and government officials — and 40 institutions won more than 350 awards, the highest number to date.
Lee highlighted the growing talent pool, with more than 320,000 applications received through the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s various talent admission programs, including 200,000 approved and more than 130,000 having arrived in Hong Kong.
The government also has programs to subsidize research and development teams and enterprises for the hiring of scientific research talent to carry out R&D work.
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“We launched the HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion) Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme to promote the transformation of scientific research results and industrial development, with the participation of more than 20 R&D teams,” Lee said.
“In the coming two years, we will match the HK$10 billion funding of the New Industrialization Acceleration Scheme to more than 50 companies to set up new production facilities in Hong Kong,” he added.
The SAR will set up a microelectronics research and development institute this year to promote R&D cooperation between universities, R&D centers and the industry in microelectronics, including third-generation semiconductors. It will also set up a pilot line to assist startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in trial production.
